The sport of baseball is much more complex than the simple swinging of a stick to hit a ball. In fact, the bat, itself, is a complex invention. The bat is carefully carved and constructed to allow for a quick and balanced swing with power. The barrel of the bat is meant to hit the ball, and contains a sweet spot of optimum hitting performance of a ball. The barrel narrows into a handle and ends with a knob, which keeps the bat from sliding out of the batter's hands. The bat handle is very thin so that batters can comfortably set their fingers in a grip. On metal bats, there is often rubber or cloth wrapping around the handle to optimize the gripping surface. However, the actual practice of gripping the bat handle is not intuitive and is not well-known or taught. The baseball bat has evolved through many physical form evolutions to become somewhat standardized in form today.
The baseball swing is known to be one of the most difficult tasks in sports. In order to successfully hit a baseball, a person must match his bat swing as closely as possible and for as long as possible with the path of the baseball thrown by the pitcher. The hitter must simultaneously consider several technical strategies, such as how level the swing is in relation to different planes, the angle of the elbows, and grip technique. The key to successful baseball hitting is to have a good swing that is repeatable and adjustable to the angle of the pitched ball. Since the pitcher is standing above the hitter on the mound, he is throwing the ball from his shoulder and the ball will travel in a downward flight to the strike zone. Therefore, the optimal swing plane for the bat will be a slight upswing to match the downward angle of the ball flying towards the strike zone. Once a hitter has mastered a good swing with solid fundamental technique, he is prepared to effectively recognize a good pitch and properly meet it with a correct bat swing to excel in the sport. However, such technical mastery proves highly difficult without an effective practice aid. Most problematic for novices and even advanced batters are correct grip of the bat and correct swing technique and motion progression. The present invention seeks to solve these problems.